Giamatti Sets Rose Hearing Date: May 25

With seemingly ominous overtones for Pete Rose and his baseball future, Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti said Thursday that he has reviewed special counsel John Dowd’s report on the Cincinnati Reds’ manager’s alleged gambling activity and has invited him to a hearing May 25.

Giamatti said he would determine Rose’s status after the hearing.

“Pete Rose has testified, but is owed, in my opinion, an opportunity to review the report and its accompanying materials, and thereafter to respond to me, if he wishes to do so,” Giamatti said in a prepared statement.

“Therefore, I have set a hearing date for May 25 . . . in my office.”

Said a member of the commissioner’s staff who declined to be identified:

“If Bart didn’t feel there was something there, he wouldn’t be having a hearing. If he didn’t feel there was something there, he would have announced that the report had cleared Pete.”

The hearing satisfies baseball’s administrative rules and could serve as a response to the possibility of a federal suit by Rose, charging that he has been deprived of due process.

Giamatti, under baseball rules, can suspend Rose for a year if he is found to have bet on baseball, and for life if he bet on the Reds.

He could also face suspension for associating with gamblers.

In addition to the commissioner’s inquiry, a federal grand jury in Cincinnati is reportedly investigating Rose for possible income-tax evasion stemming from his gambling activities.

In his statement Thursday, Giamatti said: “I have now studied the report of John Dowd. It is a report of 225 pages and is supported by seven volumes of exhibits containing depositions, statements, documents, reports, transcripts and other materials.

“Some 40 witnesses were interviewed and many were re-interviewed, including Pete Rose, who provided testimony over two days.

“The complexity, the amount of effort and the intensity of the investigation is reflected in the report and its accompanying materials. I am confident that the amount of time it took to complete the investigation and prepare the report was appropriate.

“Mr. Rose and his counsel have been sent the report and all the accompanying exhibits and materials. They have received all the information the special counsel has relied upon in support of his report and on which I will rely in making my judgment.

“I intend to do my utmost to protect the confidentiality of all this material until such time as I decide on the ultimate disposition of the report. That decision will come after hearing from Mr. Rose and after I have reached a judgment.”

In a cover letter sent with the Dowd report, Giamatti cautioned Rose and his attorneys against copying the material or making any of it public.

Reuven Katz, one of Rose’s attorneys, confirmed Thursday that he had received a copy of the report and said he and his colleagues would decide on an appropriate response after reviewing it.

Dowd told the Cincinnati Enquirer: “In terms of the time, effort and care we invested in the inquiry, I was very satisfied.

“This thing has been going on for some time and I know that bothered a lot of people. I know it has been difficult for Pete Rose. But you can’t put enough effort and care into something like this. It is not something you rush.”

Rose has denied betting on baseball and betting with bookmakers. He confirmed Thursday that he met with Dowd for two days in Cincinnati, said again that he has done nothing that would result in a suspension and is, at least, happy to know that the ordeal is winding down.

“The last two months have seemed like five years,” he said.

Said Reds’ owner Marge Schott: “It’s been hard on the club, on the fans and on Pete. Everyone is glad it will soon be over.”